HSK Spoken 口语

[jasoninchina]

I am considering taking the HSK Spoken test. Has anybody taken it? I'm particularly interested in knowing what the levels are like. From what I can tell, there are 3 levels. Also, what materials are are useful when studying?

Amazon seems to have at least a few choices.

http://www.amazon.cn/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?__mk_zh_CN=%E4%BA%9A%E9%A9%AC%E9%80%8A%E7%BD%91%E7%AB%99&url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=hsk%E5%8F%A3%E8%AF%AD

[爱德华]

If you have the opportunity to take this exam and intend on working in China it would be good for you. Ordinarily I understand level 6 HSK is required for many professional positions though so always something to consider after completion of level 3. While in Beijing I missed the chance to take the exam which would of been a great strength to my degree, something I wish I could have done. I would recommend "Beijing language and Culture university press" material personally.

Hope this helps!

[jasoninchina]

So I've done some digging and thought I should post my results. I'm not sure how many people are aware that such a test exists. It's called the HSKK 新汉语水平口语考试.

You can find a 说明 here.

I bought the exam papers from 2012 here.

I imagine not many people know of or care about this test because the regular HSK is more useful. The only reason I'm interested is because it makes for a good goal for my speaking ability.

The only thing I'd like to add is what level of the spoken test corresponds to what level of the regular HSK.

初级: HSK 1-2: In my opinion, it's quite easy.

中级: HSK 3-4: Again, not very difficult. The hardest thing here is the 看图说话. 2 mins.

高级: HSK 5-6: The sneakest thing here is the vocabulary. A few of the words are from the HSK 6. Besides those, this is no harder than the HSK 5 in terms of listening, grammar, etc.

[SuEn]

I took the 高级 level and I would say what makes it really difficult is the first part where you have to repeat what you just heard. Understanding is easy but it's quite long and I coulnd never remember all of it. I was the only person taking at my exam date and there were three Chinese teachers with me in the room and they confirmed they wouldn't be able to repeat the entire thing either. This part did seem a bit harder on the actually exam than in the prep books I had (新汉语水平考试HSK口试高级全攻略, 新汉语水平考试HSK口试高级全真模拟试卷). The 朗读 section was much easier than what I was prepared for. In the books there were often two or three characters I wasn't entirely sure how to pronounce and while I was usually able to guess right, it was making me a little nervous. In the exam I got a very easy text, in term of characters I would say way bellow the advanced level and I believe this is where I made up for the points I lost in the first part. The last part where you answer questions is fine, because you get a bit of time to prepare.

Overall, it is not a difficult exam to pass, but I guess getting a really high score is not easy at all. Which is the case with HSK6 too, in my opinion.

I think where you take the exam can also affect your performance, as with any other exam of this kind. As I said, I was the only one taking it, the room was quiet, no distractions and I was pretty much speaking to the examiner, though obviously it is the recording that is evaluated. Depending on where you take it, you might end up in of those multimedia rooms full of people. I took a spoken exam in such a setting before and couldn't really do my best.

[tooironic]

I'm confused. Isn't HSK 口语 a component of every HSK test?

[SuEn]

Not for the new HSK. (It was for the old HSK, wasn't it? I assume we're talking about the new HSK here, based on what jasoninchina said in his first post.) There is now a separate exam called the HSKK, with three levels as jasoninchina wrote above. I took the HSKK the same day as the HSK but you have to sign up for each of them separately and also pay two fees.

[tooironic]

Strange. So do those who wish to do postgraduate study in China have to pass the HSKK in addition to the HSK 5/6 itself?

[SuEn]

Hm, I don't know, I would think it depends on the requirements of the individual universities. I can't actually remember seeing the HSKK as a requirement anywhere even for undergraduate, except the Confucius Institute Scholarship. I think this is the first year they are actually requiring applicants to have passed the HSKK in addition to the HSK. It seems to me the HSKK was introduced later than the new HSK, I remember a few people taking it last year in China, but I have not heard about it before that. But that's just a guess. I've been hearing more of it this year, as a lot of people applying for the CIS suddenly have to take the HSKK.

[jasoninchina]

@tooironic. I've never heard of any school asking for the HSKK. Which kinduv makes sense, it's just a spoken test.

@SuEn. Thanks for your response. If I may ask, how do you feel the score compared to your perceived difficult of the test. For example, in the 听后复述 section, how many points do you think were taken for forgetting a sentence. Also, do they expect your to repeat the exact story back or just retell it in your own words?

[SuEn]

@jasoninchina. I don't think it's possible to repeat it word for word. It's way too long, I couldn't do it in my native language either. Or maybe it's just that my memory sucks and other people can do it no problem. I tried to retell in my own words, but I really couldn't remember all the details. So I think I lost points on not saying enough. I had long pauses after my answers, not just because I speak almost too fast sometimes, but also because I simply did not repeat the story in its entirety. The examiner said I did fine, but I definitely could have done better. So I think if your are able to repeat the entire story in your own words you could get full points. I think what they do is look for the key words, they do not necessarily evaluate your ability to repeat the exact same sentence. But how it is actually evaluated I have no idea, that's just what I imagine it looks like ( though I remember reading somewhere how it's generally graded, but I'll have to look where it was). I think with practice, this section can get easier, but I didn't prepare for it much.

The same thing with the last section, answering the questions, with enough practice you become better at making your answers longer even if you don't really have that much to say. That was definitely my problem, I can never come up with enough content for my answers. If you look at the prep books, the sample answers they give are very long and quite complicated. Could I produce similar texts if I were writing them and had sufficient time to build them up? Yes. Could I do it in the limited time? No. But I couldn't do that in my own native language either. So really, the exam is not just testing your speaking abilities. Though that is the issue with all such exams, the score not only reflects how well you speak but also how well you have mastered the particular exam-taking skills. I have taken proficiency exams in other languages and it seems to me this issue is much bigger for the HSKK. (End of rant.)

If you want a really high score, I recommend not taking the HSKK on the same day as the HSK and practicing the first and third section a lot. If you just want to pass it, I think it's very doable without much prep if you generally have no problems expressing yourself fluently on quite a variety of issues in Chinese, your pronounciation is clear. I got 73, which I think is in the range where I have said enough in decent Chinese that there is no way it would all add up to a failing score but then it is not a very good score either. I took it this past December together with the HSK6 and I have been learning Chinese since fall 2009, spent two semesters in China, to put my experience into some perspective. I hope this is at least somewhat helpful for you.

[jasoninchina]

@SuEn. It was somewhat helpful, and then some! Thanks.

[evasiege]

I don't know why the 口语 aspect of the HSK gets ignored so much as spoken is arguably the most important thing in language. It doesn't matter how well you can understand someone or how fast you can read a book if you can't put sentences together when speaking.

There are three levels to the 口语. Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced.　

[mokushiroku]

或许很多人会提供您很多参考书目当做数据，但是我会建议您听普通话的流行歌曲，歌词有时候是一种最精简的汉语文章。另外可以看些电视节目，最好是借些影碟回家看，不要秀出字幕，不懂还可以倒回去重新看一次。还有一个就是看报纸的社论，如果您的阅读能力已经到达高级，这是一个很好的练习方式，您可以在阅读的时候就开始思考斟酌字句和文章的涵义，然后试着将您所想到的话录音下来，念错了也不要紧，反正就是一直说下去，完成后可以拿给您身边很懂汉语的人，请他们帮您指正；这是在测试临场反应，多做几次练习，灵活汉语结构在脑袋中的运用，这在考试的时候会很有帮助。